Police issue warrant for Amazon Echo data to help crack murder case

That's a phrase we could be hearing more of in the future, as authorities have recently requested the data from one of Amazon's trusty gadgets, the Amazon Echo, in the hope that it will aid in uncovering additional details about a murder trial. SEE ALSO: 10 things you should do now that you've welcomed Alexa into your life Police in Bentonville, Arkansas have issued a warrant to Amazon to hand over any audio or records from the Echo device of one James Andrew Bates, a man set to go to trial next year for first-degree murder of Victor Collins, who was reportedly found dead in Bates' hot tub last November. Though Amazon's Echo devices are not necessarily "recording devices," they come equipped with a virtual assistant, Alexa, which users converse with to complete tasks or obtain information. When a user activates the Echo device with a vocal command it will begin recording for recognition purposes. The recording is then sent to Amazon's cloud servers so a response can be elicited.